SANTA FE - New Mexico lawmakers on Wednesday pushed forward with a string of tax and fee increases despite resistance from Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, as they worked in a special legislative session to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in previously vetoed funding for higher education and the Legislature.

The two-term governor and the Democratic-led Legislature have been feuding for months over how to fill a budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year. Martinez last month rejected a variety of tax hikes, while vetoing $765 million in state spending.

Setting the stage for budget negotiations, votes to override the governor’s actions by a two-thirds majority failed in both the House and Senate. Sen. Majority Leader Peter Wirth said the override attempts ensure that the Legislature can still appeal budget cuts to the state Supreme Court — a second time — if the governor rejects another budget plan.

Republican and Democratic lawmakesr found some common ground Wednesday as the House approved proposals to impose taxes on online retail sales, along with nonprofit and government hospitals.

Hospitals support the tax increases because it would bring more federal matching funds for Medicaid to the state.

A plan to suspend infrastructure spending to shore up state finances also had bipartisan support. Together the measures would raise enough new money to plug a budget deficit for the coming fiscal year and restore a modest financial cushion.

“We think that the governor likes some of these things,” said Rep. Patricial Lundstrom, D-Gallup. “We hope that she will sign some for our revenue suggestion because it’s incredibly important that we get our higher education funding in place.”

Democratic lawmakers also endorsed tax and fee increases on gasoline, vehicle sales and trucking permits and that the governor vehemently opposes.

“She’s not going to sign it, so we didn’t need to vote for it,” said Sen. Steve Neville, R-Aztec, who voted against the tax hikes in committee.

Without an agreement, all general-fund expenditures on the Legislature as well as state colleges, universities and specialty schools are scheduled to run out July 1.

In May, leading Democratic lawmakers unsuccessfully petitioned the state Supreme Court to rescind the governor’s spending cuts. They say the focus now is on restoring the funding in as little time as possible.

New Mexico State University President Garrey Carruthers told lawmakers Wednesday that a failure to reach an agreement would bankrupt the Las Cruces-based school in a matter of months.

New Mexico’s finances were hit hard over the past two years by a downturn in revenue from the oil and natural gas sectors. The state also struggles with a weak overall economy and the nation’s highest unemployment rate.

The budget crisis has triggered tuition increases at several colleges, layoffs at museums and a shortage of public defenders.

Martinez has cast blame for the shortfall on the Legislature’s own spending habits, though its $18 million annual budget accounts for a small fraction of spending.

She and allied House Republicans favor clawing back $12 million in pension funds set aside for lawmakers. Critics say that would take a bite out of savings for all government workers and trigger tax penalties.

The governor backed a proposal to do away with a variety of tax breaks. A vote on that tax package was scuttled Tuesday by Democratic House Speaker Brian Egolf because lawmakers were not given enough time to study it.

Lawmakers from both parties feared the sweeping tax changes might further undermine state revenues and revive controversial taxes on nonprofits.

In April, Martinez vetoed tax and fee increases that the Legislature said were needed to bolster funding for public schools, courts and critical government services after repeated rounds of cuts to state agencies.

If vetoed funding is restored and there’s no agreement on any new sources of revenue, the state would be left with an estimated $70 million deficit that could translate into cuts to public schools and state agencies — and a possible downgrade of its credit rating.